The Rest of Us Just Live Here in What's the Name of That Book???

Feb 18, 2015 karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: why-yes-i-ya, thank-you-bea-or-ala

"I wonder what was going on last night. With the lights."

She shrugs. "Probably some apocalypse."

the problem with writing a book like More Than This is that you then have to write a book after More Than This.

and i was a little apprehensive about this one. my copy has this cover:

which makes it look almost like a middle grade book, and i was concerned that it wouldn't live up to the mind-shattering acrobatic metafiction that was More Than This.

and it doesn't. nothing ever will.
but that doesn't mea ...more

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Jun 03, 2016 thefourthvine rated it it was ok

Shelves: sff, ya, queer-interest, warnings, disability

-WARNINGS NOTE: This book is RIDDLED with animal harm and death. It's graphic, it's multiple, some of it occurs right on the page in graphic detail and is really distressing.-

Okay, so. The conceit of this book is that it's about the kids who aren't the Chosen Ones, the people who hold the universe together, the ones who save the world, called "indie kids" in this book. It's about the kids who live their lives on the sidelines, in the background, while other people (discussed in the chapter heads -WARNINGS NOTE: This book is RIDDLED with animal harm and death. It's graphic, it's multiple, some of it occurs right on the page in graphic detail and is really distressing.-

Okay, so. The conceit of this book is that it's about the kids who aren't the Chosen Ones, the people who hold the universe together, the ones who save the world, called "indie kids" in this book. It's about the kids who live their lives on the sidelines, in the background, while other people (discussed in the chapter heads) save the world.

Great idea! Except:

1. When I was a kid, I decided that there are issue books and fantasy books, and fantasy books were much, much more entertaining and fun. I've grown up! I read other kinds of books! But, wow, this book reminded me just how much fun issue books are not. Yes, it was delightful to have a good portrayal of OCD, and I deeply appreciated that, but add in the career-driven mom and grandmother with Alzheimer's and the sister with the eating disorder and the alcoholic father and and and and and...look. Too many issues, okay? Too. Many.

2. Mike, our narrator, spends pretty much the whole book being an asshole because the girl he's had a crush on forever but never made a single move on mentioned being interested in someone else. Don't get me wrong, he has good traits -- he loves his sisters, he cares about his friends (although he never bothers to try to see them for who they are) -- but, uh, if I want to read the endless whining of dudes who are Totally in Love with This Amazing Girl who they actually do not in any way treat like a human being, Reddit is *right there*.

3. Remember how this is supposed to be about the non-indie kids? Mike's friends and siblings are. Well. Surprisingly indie. (view spoiler) That's -- that's not exactly normal kid material, even though he's trying to be normal. What I'm saying is, Patrick Ness tried to write issue fiction against a fantasy backdrop, except the fantasy backdrop was so compelling, so much more interesting than what he was actually supposed to be writing about, that he couldn't stop playing with it. The fantasy contaminated his issues fiction with fun. This is a sign that he should have been writing something else all along.

4. The most interesting character in the book BY FAR is Mike's crush-object, Henna, who has problems, takes control of her life, calls people on their bullshit, and almost gets killed by possessed deer. (Not in that order.) I kept wanting to hear more about her. And less about Mike's objectifying crush on her. (view spoiler)

5. At the end of the book, one of the indie kids says, crying, "I don't know why it always happens to us. I don't know why we always have to blow up the high school." And I found myself thinking, yeah, that's a really good question, isn't it? Why did these non-indie people, kids and adults both, all sit on the sidelines and let the indie kids struggle on alone? Why are they constantly surrounded by gigantic problems that they decide someone else should deal with? Shouldn't they be...helping save the world? It's kind of important.

And the whole novel falls apart, right there, in that scene. The conceit doesn't work. Issues fiction only works when the issues are the most important thing. And this book could only work if the fantasy components weren't real. Because when the world is literally, actually ending in the background, and the main characters are too busy arguing with their friends and going to dances to do anything about it, well. It's hard not to think they're self-centered little shits.

Which, in Mike's case, is definitely true. Maybe that's the point Ness was making, that there are the people who care and try and then there are the people who don't try and only care about themselves and their little circle of humans. But, well, I already knew that. Didn't need to spend another book with them. ...more

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Sep 28, 2015 Emma rated it liked it · review of another edition

Mikey isn't the chosen one. He's not going to fall in love with a vampire. (It's hard enough just trying to tell Henna how he feels now that she's finally broken up with her boyfriend.) He isn't going to change his name to Finn or Satchel or Kerouac. He isn't going to fight zombies. (Not when he's busy trying to keep his own OCD tendencies under control.) He isn't going to rid the town of ghosts. (Not when the almost-loss of his sister is still so fresh.)

Sometimes it's hard being the chosen one. Mikey isn't the chosen one. He's not going to fall in love with a vampire. (It's hard enough just trying to tell Henna how he feels now that she's finally broken up with her boyfriend.) He isn't going to change his name to Finn or Satchel or Kerouac. He isn't going to fight zombies. (Not when he's busy trying to keep his own OCD tendencies under control.) He isn't going to rid the town of ghosts. (Not when the almost-loss of his sister is still so fresh.)

Sometimes it's hard being the chosen one. Just ask any of the Indie kids at school. But, as Mikey knows all too well, sometimes it's also hard just being a regular guy trying to make it through senior year and make sense of his life--hopefully before the high school gets blown up. Again.

When it feels like every week there's a new impending doom, sometimes the most extraordinary thing to do is live your regular not-chosen-one life. Even if your best friend is worshiped by cats in The Rest of Us Just Live Here (2015) by Patrick Ness.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here is Ness' clever send-off of almost every recent supernatural/paranormal trend to have hit YA literature. Remember when everyone was falling in love with vampires? What about the soul eating ghosts? Or way back when the big thing everyone was dealing with was Gods? They all make an appearance in Mikey's town where high schools get blown up more often than kids named Finn end up at the center of a battle for humanity.

But none of that is really Mikey's problem because he isn't an indie kid and, as such, it's also not a concern of The Rest of Us Just Live Here. Chapter headings explain the "big" story as indie kids Satchel and Finn (not the dead one, the other one) try to save the world from something . . . weird. Meanwhile this book focuses on Mikey's life in the background of this supernatural drama as he looks toward the end of high school and all of the uncertainty it holds for himself, his best friend Jared, Henna--the girl he thinks he loves, and Mikey's sister Mel.

The thing to remember here, is that despite the backdrop of supernatural on every level, The Rest of Us Just Live Here is basically a contemporary story. And a familiar one at that with Mikey's uncertainty about nearly everything except his rock solid bond with his best friends.

While the premise of characters doing the best they can on the periphery of a bigger drama seems original, in Ness' hands it feels decidedly trite. Something in the execution of The Rest of Us Just Live Here--with its obvious nods to classic YA like Twilight and TV shows like Buffy--makes this otherwise enjoyable novel feel unoriginal and slight. While not necessarily a bad thing for every reader, it can make it hard to connect with (or even care) about these characters.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here is an ideal choice for readers who like their stories a bit zany and their adventures madcap. Recommended for readers suffering from paranormal romance/dystopian adventure fatigue.

Possible Pairings: Geek Fantasy Novel by E. Archer, Don't Ever Change by M. Beth Bloom, Tumble & Fall by Alexandra Coutts, Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, Denton Little's Deathdate by Lance Rubin, All We Have is Now by Lisa Schroeder, We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach ...more

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Jul 03, 2015 Laura rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mt-bookpile-2011-2015, old-reads

What happens if you're not one of the Chosen? Instead, just one of those ordinary kids who happens to end up as zombie food, or caught in the crossfire of gods going mad, or trying to escape a vampire outbreak? This is their story, the story of normal kids, doing normal things in a town that might be the nexus for abnormal activity (kinda like the Hellmouth that was Sunnydale CA, kept safe by Buffy).

The reality is: no one is normal. We all have problems, like thinking about college and having cr ...more

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Oct 31, 2016 Kate rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: age-ya, audiobooks, 2016

In a world where the "Indie Kids" are the Chosen Ones, live exciting lives filled with immortal gods, vampires, ghosts, cancer and other apocalyptic disasters, Mike is just on the sidelines, thinking about his crush on Henna and prom and what will happen after graduation.

My summary is a bit brief here because there really isn't much else happening in this book other than Mike's small dramas. I mean, there is, but not really? So basically, the Indie Kids are the main characters from every other Y ...more

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Oct 05, 2021 Maria Elmvang rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned-ebook, 4-stars, fantasy, ya, 2021

By far the best book I've read by Patrick Ness so far. The writing style took some getting used to, but once I realized what he was doing with the chapter summaries I was absolutely blown away by the brilliant way he managed to tell two stories at the same time - making the "ordinary" plot the more important one.

It's definitely YA, but it's good YA, and I really enjoyed both the characters and the plot. Mikey and Henna especially came across as very real, and liked how Mikey had separate and dis ...more

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